"Counterintuitive though it may seem, literature and the arts afford us a royal way into the body, and this is a trip worth making because the acquaintanceship in question is, of course, with ourselves." (p74)

"We will never know how much of this Bronte intended—it is the first question my students ask (...)—and my only answer is: can we know what any author intends? what we ourselves intend? Novels are not subject to proof or disproof, like evidence in a courtroom..." (p90)